A recent inquiry from 'PeggyB' asked, "I want to test some water but don't know what kit to buy.......we have a 2 gallon container for water......my husband buys water for stores to refill that 2 gallon container......I tell him to rinse out the container before putting new water in it......he won't do to get a water tester to check the water.....if he sees for himself.....maybe he will rinse out the container.....thank you for your time..."

Thank you for your inquiry, Peggy, and we can certainly understand your concerns.

Regarding not rinsing the container out, each time the container gets exposed to air (when it is opened for initial use and/or refilling) bacteria has the opportunity to get into the container. Assuming the water refilling the container contains no form of disinfectant (i.e. chlorine or ozone), that makes the container a great breeding ground for bacteria.

More than testing, we suggest cleaning the container at the very least every couple of fillings. Think of it this way: If you had a water service deliver containers to your home each week and take away the old ones, would they not clean the containers in some way before refilling them and sending them on to the next customer? We definitely hope so!

As far as a test, though, we could suggest the coliform bacteria test, but that test takes 48 hours and it may not provide the sort of conclusive 'proof' that your husband may require. Plus it detects only a certain type of bacteria that we would HOPE did not find its way into your water jug.

Honestly, we really think cleaning the containers, or rinsing them w/ a low concentration of bleach water sounds like a wise plan between uses. Obviously you will want to rinse w/ non-bleach water afterward to get any traces of chlorine disinfectant out of the container.

Testing to make sure all chlorine is gone?

After rinsing the containers w/ bleach water you will probably want to check to make certain all chlorine has gotten rinsed out of the containers before refilling (note: some people would, and could, logically argue that a little bit of chlorine left in the containers after rinsing may help to stave off bacterial growth... at the expense of a slight chlorine taste in the water).

Should you not want a chlorine taste in the water, testing for total chlorine makes sense. Definitely pour a sample out of the container and do not attempt to test the full body of water in the container. Good products for performing such testing include:

At the end of the day, Peggy, not washing the containers out every once in a while makes little sense in our minds. We hope you can convince your husband to change his ways before someone possibly gets sick!

Today’s question deals with water quality when traveling outside of the United States. ‘Amandee33’ asked, “My husband and I plan to travel abroad in the Spring and we get mixed messages from people, even our travel agent!, when it comes to the safety of water in the places we want to go. WE can just use bottles water right and be OK?”

Thanks for your inquiry, Amandee, and you have asked a VERY good question… that has somewhat of a confusing answer.

Should you rely on bottled water? In our experience bottled water presents itself as a great option for drinking and the brushing of one’s teeth BUT you must use caution when selecting a brand of bottled water.

Not all brands of bottled water go through the same filtration and some come from local water supplies (i.e. tap water) that may contain unwanted local contaminants. Therefore we suggest that you choose your bottled water brand carefully, avoid fresh fruits, and avoid ice cubes.

One last thing…

With so many travel web sites out there that go into ridiculous amounts of detail regarding hotel and resort amenities, perhaps you can find reviews/postings from previous visitors that discuss the water quality at the places you intend to stay?

Who would have ever thought that an international water tasting event would take place… in West Virginia? Certainly not anyone here at Water Testing Blog, but then again, we never claimed to know everything… and we never will.

February 27, 2010 – A municipal water from the Ohio was named Best Municipal Water in the World during the 20th annual Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting.

Tap water from Hamilton, OH, beat out 43 global competitors to win first place. Last year Hamilton’s water was named best in the United States.

Waters were tasted in four separate flights over two days. 12 judges spent Saturday afternoon and evening tasting finalists in four categories: municipal, bottled, sparkling and purified drinking water.

About 200 people attended Saturday evening’s competition at Berkeley Springs’ The Country Inn. Audience members voted on which waters had the best packaging.

For those of us not able to find products from the aforementioned winning companies in our local grocery stores, and/or people who refuse to support the bottled water industry, other ways to get safe, clean drinking water exist.

News of BPA-laced water bottles, environmental woes caused by people not recycling or empty bottled water bottles, revelations that some bottled water comes from municipal water systems and other tidbits of information have put the bottled water industry on its heels… and now this.

A town in Australia banned bottled water AND London has decided to install chilled water vending machines on a trial basis in several highly trafficked locations.

London may soon follow in the footsteps of Bundanoon, the Australian town that last week banned bottled water and set up drinking fountains for thirsty locals.

The capital’s first water stations will be set up this month in a move that could have serious repercussions for the £1.5bn-a-year bottled water industry, with companies finding it increasingly difficult to justify their carbon footprint as the quality of tap water improves.

Thames Water, Britain’s largest privatised water company, with 13.6 million customers, has had talks with the Greater London Authority and Transport for London to install water machines in the capital. In the first trial, Hydrachills will be installed at Hammersmith bus station and at the Tower Bridge museum. The machines can fill bottles of up to 500ml with chilled water for a 20p charge. All proceeds will be donated to Waste Watch, a charity working to change the way people use natural resources. ( source )

This means a whole lot of thirsty commuters will soon have the option of filling up personal water bottles at home and then refilling with clean, chilled water on their way to the office for a much less money than they would normally spend on bottled water.

So the question becomes, will London commuters take advantage of this fantastic money-saving opportunity? We think that will depend upon the quality of their water at home and the quality of the water dispensed by the machines.

So, as usual, we suggest people test their drinking water for contaminants on a periodic basis with a test kit such as the SenSafe Water Quality Test Kit which tests for contaminants commonly found in drinking water.

Testing procedures in the kit come from recognized water testing methods, the kit contains no harsh chemicals (liquids, tablets, etc.), it comes with clear, easy-to-follow instructions, and best of all it provides accurate results without the need for expensive testing equipment.

OK, so we THOUGHT we could kick back, relax, and enjoy some bacon this morning, given that we don’t have to go to work again until Monday morning, but that all fell through when some unthinking moron stopped on the sidewalk out front, chugged the last bit of their overpriced bottled water, and stuffed the empty bottle in the neighbor’s mailbox.

One could THANK the person for not chucking their refuse onto the lawn or just dropping it where they stood, but still… Take your empty bottle with you, ya’ loser! Sheesh.

So, this brings us to the part where we ask people to stop buying water that comes in disposable bottles. Why? Because no one one wants the empties in their mailbox, bottled water costs way too much, and because less expensive and more planet friendly options exist.

Carrying a reusable water bottle that can filter water from pretty much any source makes SO much more sense than throwing away good money on bottled water that probably came from a municipal water system anyways. You get the convenience of not needing a store, the benefit of saving money, and the satisfaction that come from not contributing more plastic to our already overflowing landfills.

Listen up, folks, because someone has posted yet ANOTHER article which attacks the long believed myth that people ought to drink bottled water because it comes from better, healthier, more pristine and much more pure places than tap water. Below you will find excerpts from The Truth About Bottled Water which spell out in no uncertain terms why bottled doesn’t always mean better when it comes to the water you drink.

Dasani and Aquafina on Trial…

You may actually be drinking tap water. Case in point: Dasani, a Coca-Cola product. Despite its exotic-sounding name, Dasani is simply purified tap water that’s had minerals added back in. For example, if your Dasani water was bottled at the Coca-Cola Bottling Company in Philadelphia, you’re drinking Philly tap water. But it’s not the only brand of water that relies on city pipes to provide its product. About 25 percent of all bottled water is taken from municipal water sources, including Pepsi’s Aquafina. ( source )

Yep. Many of the bottled water products people pay way too much for come from same local water companies that supply water to the faucets in the back of the stores that sell the bottled water.

Argument: “Oh yeah? Well bottled water went from the tap in the factory through a filter and into the bottle. Straight tap water traveled through miles and miles of pipes since getting purified!”

Rebuttal: “True, but you can save hundreds and possibly thousands of dollars a year by investing in personal water bottles equipped with replaceable filters which will allow you to grab tap water on the go from pretty much any faucet and purify it on the spot for immediate consumption.”

Gas Guzzlers + Water Guzzlers = Oil Crisis

No, we did not make a mistake just now. We meant to write that equation in the exact manner that we wrote it.

Our country’s high demand for oil isn’t just due to long commutes. ?Most water bottles are composed of a plastic called polyethylene terepthalate (PET). Now, to make PET, you need crude oil.

Specifically, 17 million barrels of oil are used in the production of PET water bottles ever year, estimate University of Louisville scientists. No wonder the per ounce cost of bottled water rivals that of gasoline. ( source )

Yep. Facts like those make us do a double-take each time we see people going to BJ’s Sam’s Club or Wal-Mart in their giant SUV’s so they can stuff the cargo areas with cases and cases of battled water.

Argument: “Oh, please… People SAVE money by buying their bottled water in bulk. Everybody KNOWS that!”

Rebuttal: “With most things, yes, people save money by buying in bulk. In this case, though, even a severely discounted price on bottled water STILL amounts to the average person paying as much, if not more, per gallon for the water than they did for the gas they put in their vehicle. Even if people purchase their bottled water for just $1 per 1.75 liter container (an unheard of price for ‘good’ bottled water), they would still wind up paying $3.78 per gallon for the water.”

Now for Some Recycling News:

86 percent of 30 billion PET water bottles sold annually are tossed in the trash, instead of being recycled, according to data from the Container Recycling Institute.( source )

This saddened every single staff member here at Water Testing Blog not because of the volume of waste generated by bottled water, although that does suck, but rather because of the hypocrisy shown by so many of the people who drink bottled water. Many of them claim eco-friendly lifestyles, drive hybrid vehicles, and look down on those who don’t share their passion for living the ‘green life’.

The Final Word on Bottled Water (for now)

We all agree that people require safe, clean drinking water to live and that having safe, clean drinking water on-hand at all times makes life more pleasant. We can also agree, most likely, that filling up landfills with used plastic bottles makes no sense especially when viable, logical alternatives exist.

Stop buying bottled water and carry your own personal water purification system such as the Katadyn Exstream Personal Water Bottle Purifier which allows users to draw water from pretty much any source (water faucet, garden hose, river, lake, stream, etc.) and have clean, safe drinking water in no time.

The cost for such convenience rings in far lower than bottled water. A single unit processes 26 gallons of water before the filter needs replacing and costs around $40. The same amount of ‘reputable’ bottled water would cost at LEAST twice that, if not close to three times that amount.

A recent article we found gives disturbing details about how the bottled water industry has had the option of doing business all these years. It scares us to think that bottled water companies have charged as much as they have for their product all these years and not really done all they could to protect us from fecal, apparently also spelled faecal, coliform.

FDA pushes for more stringent water testing

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is pushing more stringent testing standards for the bottled water industry in the US, saying companies will have to eliminate any causes of faecal contamination in water sources before they can bottle the water for sale.

The FDA’s new rules also require manufacturers to test source water for any forms of coliform (a group of bacteria that are mostly harmless), according to a copy of the rules scheduled to be posted in the Federal Register on Friday.

If coliform is found, manufacturers must also test for faecal contamination. Water that goes into bottles is already tested for coliform and faecal contamination, but the water source itself wasn’t previously required to be tested.

The new rules were proposed two years ago, and bring the FDA’s standards in line with that of the Environmental Protection Agency, which has federal oversight of tap water. The rules will go into effect on 1 December 2009.

The FDA notes that 70-75% of bottled water comes from the ground, or the same places where people receive tap water. The new rule also says bottled water producers must keep records of source water testing. ( source )

Sorry, but the fact that the bottled water industry has raked in BILLIONS and BILLIONS of dollars each year for so long and no one thought to make sure they observed what most would call ‘common sense’ water testing practices sounds like a criminal act to us.

At least someone has finally decided to ask questions and impose some rules that will help guarantee the public’s safety.

Use the Water Check Pool water test kit to check for e. coli and other coliforms. Detect sewage contamination & waterborne pathogens in pool water. Protect against harmful microorganisms. Your Cost:$14.99

… will tell you if the water contains unsafe levels of bacteria that would make swimming or bathing unsafe.

… detects down to 1 coliform unit of bacteria, the EPA limit for safe drinking water.

Now as we ALWAYS say, “No at-home test kit gives the same level of precision and accuracy as a professional, certified water analysis laboratory!” — It’s your water, your health and ultimately your LIFE!

A while back the newspapers and television reports filled up with reports that some bottled water contained high levels of bromates and everyone agreed that bottled water ought not contain bromates. But how many of you ever stopped to ask where the bromates came from in the first place?

“Bromate is a chemical that is formed when ozone used to disinfect drinking water reacts with naturally occurring bromide found in source water. EPA has established the Stage 1 Disinfectants/Disinfection Byproducts Rule to regulate bromate at annual average of 10 parts per billion in drinking water. This standard will become effective for large public water systems by December 2001 and for small surface water and all ground public water systems in December 2003.” (source)

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Once you have properly tested your drinking water and learned what quality issues may need attention, then you can begin your search for the right water treatment system to address your unique water quality concerns!